Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Butterflies > Butterfly. "ITBs"

Rocking some blurry shots tonight, my iPhone must not like the cold. Got out to the shed and actually got a bit done, it's times like these when I CBF doing much it's handy to have a full list of every little thing that needs to be done so I can go over it and look for something that interests me at any given time.

Drilled and tapped the holes for the blanking plate for my ITB setup. I'm going to be using the factory EF/L/AU manifold (I believe this one is from an AU, based on the injectors fitted; I honestly can't remember!) and the butterflies normally used for the short/long runner setup are going to become my throttle butterflies. They seal properly (tested) and the surface area is from memory somewhere between 30 and 60% larger than the standard throttle body on these (which is already relatively large). I'll be making a pair of blanking plates to cover the standard "long" runners.

Clamping and positioning this was a bit of a pain but I got there in the end.





The holes go straight through between the sets of runners. Plenty of meat to tap a thread into and zero chance of going through a wall.







Both sets of extra holes tapped.







Now I've run into a bit of a dilemma, this is where the main fabrication work is required. The factory TPS is as pictured below. I've got a couple of ways of trying to acheive the same activity. I can either cut down and make a blade as per the factory setup on the end of the butterflies, or I can cut down the factory throttle body and use that with a linkage to the end rod of the butterflies. I could also use it as a linkage to the center of the butterfly setup by welding on some form of linkage.


Pictured above is the factory BBM actuator cam, this is normally actuated by vacuum. I'm going to mount a spring here as a return, and use this as a full throttle/idle screw location. I have also thought about welding a throttle pull to this arm and attaching a cable bracket to the top of the arm. More thought required I think.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Tailem Bend - Motivation 101

Went to a private drift day at Tailem Bend this weekend and took a few photos and a video.

Suffice to say, motivation to get the E21 up and going is through the roof right now. Just wish it was warmer outside!!



Links to the videos: here and here.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Wasted long weekend. Almost.

Had some form of flu or something knock me for six for the long weekend.

Did manage to get some work done on this though;

EF bottom end has been cleaned up and fitted AU series 2 MLS headgasket and new headbolts with XH hybrid head. I've removed the sump for a clean and so I can fit the new timing chain. Need to work out which (standard) cam and rocker gear I'm going to use for a start now.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Headbolts

Headbolts at last!

I finally got around to getting some headbolts. This means I can finally bolt together an engine.

I think at this stage I'll be pulling down, cleaning up and re-using an EF bottom end, with an XH Hybrid head.

The hybrid head has the stepped valve spring seat for conical springs like an AU head, so I'm going to need to use single springs when I upgrade - performancesprings has these so should not pose an issue where using Crow's VTKAU-R would require machining of this stepped seat to fit.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Front rail brace

Saw a couple of photos of a weld on chassis brace at bimmerforums, decided to make my own. It's stepped forwards a little compared to theirs, as I may yet need to modify the factory cross frame above it to clear the harmonic balancer, we shall see what it looks like when that's all fitted up!

Also cut and bent away a few more pieces of the radiator support for hose clearance, I'm hoping to somehow fit a standard sized falcon radiator in front of the support by making a box frame to hold the front end together. The new brace will make a good base for my radiator bracket either way, and may be the foundation of my front end boxing.

Before you get too worried, I'm planning on keeping the twin lights! If I have a radiator in the way of one then it just won't be as functional as I'll have to use the glass with an LED or similar to make a shallow lens

Up on stands

The car is finally back in the shed ready for some progress!